En savoir plus
Excerpt from The Practitioner: A Medical Journal; July-December, 1906
IN this article it is proposed to consider sleeplessness when it is the special affection for which relief is sought, and is the chief, if not the only, symptom of which the patient complains not when it is an incident of disease of the nervous system, or of acute febrile affections, or the result of pain or local irritation.
The danger attending the employment of opiates, or hypnotics, or sedatives, arises when persistent sleeplessness, with the depression, weariness, and irritability to which it gives rise, seems to be the only deviation from health, and no obvious cause is recognisable. The patience both of the sufferer and-of the doctor is apt to be worn out, and the path of least resistance is to give some sedative. The patient is relieved and the doctor gets credit. The temptation to repeat the dose is almost irresistible, the patient expects and becomes dependent on it. But recourse to hypnotics is not justified by using the word insomnia in the place of sleeplessness, or by employing the latest new drug.
There is a continual production of new hypnotics which argues a considerable demand. It may be supposed to argue also that, one after another, the vaunted remedies are found out, and that the ideal hypnotic has yet to be discovered. It is not reasonable, however, to expect that any particular remedy for sleeplessness will be of universal application.
Opium with its derivatives is of course the most powerful narcotic of any, and is one of the most valuable and important medicaments placed at the service of mankind.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.